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Recently published in Lab on a Chip, a journal of the Royal Society of Chemistry, Professor Audrey Bowden and Gennifer Smith, a PhD student in electrical engineering, detail their new low-cost, portable device that would allow patients to get consistently accurate urine test results at home, easing the workload on primary care physicians.

Other do-it-yourself systems are emerging, but Bowden and Smith's approach is inexpensive and reliable, in part because they base their system on the same tried and trusted dipstick used in medical offices.

Their approach uses an easy-to-assemble black box that allows a smartphone camera to capture video that accurately analyzes color changes in a standard paper dipstick.